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Mink farmers in Summit County are watching their ranches closely. There's a concern the national Animal Liberation Front might strike.
Last month, the group claimed responsibility for releasing some 6,000 mink from a farm in Kaysville. The group also said more releases will happen at other farms, if they decide.
Summit County Sheriff David Edmunds says, "The mink farmers are very nervous up here." The Summit County Sheriff's Office recently checked out reports of a prowler at a mink farm, a car near another rural mink farm with California license plates and two other cars at another mink farm driving slowly with their lights off.
Edmunds says, "I think what these folks are trying to do is impose some economic hardship on our mink farmers so they'll eventually shut down, and that's a criminal activity," Edmunds says.
KSL called a few mink farmers on the area, but no one wanted to talk about the situation. They felt if they publicly voiced their concerns, it would make them a bigger target.
Cleone Hortin, at the Main Street Huddle Grill in Coalville, says, "That's how a lot of them make their living, is through their mink." And with the economy the way it is right now, rural farmers can't afford any more losses.
Edmunds says, "We are on high alert. We are out there making sure we conduct proactive activities and are looking for these folks."
Sheriff Edmunds says Summit County mink farmers have been hit before. A raid a few years ago resulted in thousands of mink getting loose. Many of them died from the elements or getting hit by cars on the road.
E-mail: acabrero@ksl.com
